Hachiman’s Classroom of Strength’s Supremacy

Chapter 111: Katsuragi’s Test, Hachiman Is Truly a…

Of course, Kushida would explode.

Her goal is to be friends with everyone.

And she is working towards that goal.

Then, after wanting to become friends, there is naturally a price to be paid.

That means you have to pay attention to this person, offer help, and the other person, seeing you as a friend, will also tell you various secrets that put pressure on them, and so on.

These are all stored pressures.

And Kushida surely cannot bear all of this, which is why she needs an outlet like kicking the railing and cursing.

Now, Ike Kanji wants to confess to Kushida?

“Sorry, I need to go to the bathroom.”

Hachiman excused himself from the dinner table.

Then, he took out his phone and sent a message to a specific person: Kushida Kikyo.

[Are you free right now?]

“?”

It seemed like Kushida was quite free.

So she replied almost immediately.

[Actually, Kushida, I wanted to ask you out.]

“Don’t!” Kushida replied quickly. “I’m watching a Shakespeare play with Mei-yu…”

This time, Kushida’s reply was even faster.

Hachiman wasn’t sure if it was her hand speed or if she was subconsciously trying to reject him.

So, it seemed…

He was on her list of people she disliked.

She didn’t even need to think about it.

Although Hachiman already knew that Kushida wasn’t pure as a “white lotus,” it still felt a little disappointing.

However…

Hachiman didn’t think any cute girls liked him.

So his heart remained strong.

This wouldn’t break him.

So, if she chose to hurt him, then he would hurt her back.

[Actually, it’s Ike who wants to confess to you! So I’m the one arranging this.]

On Kushida’s end…

Hachiman looked at his phone, which showed “typing…” for a long time.

But after 30 seconds, no message came through.

Maybe she had written something and then deleted it.

At the 34-second mark, Kushida’s message was ready.

“Hah!? That idiot wants to confess to me?”

Hmm.

It could be confirmed that Kushida was definitely alone right now; otherwise, she wouldn’t have used the term “idiot.”

She truly is a bit dark inside.

She deliberately interacts with people like Ike, who are disliked by the girls in class, being kind and cute on the surface, while secretly despising them to the extreme inside.

It was all just a façade.

So, what does she really want?

She dislikes others but still seeks to interact with them.

Hachiman felt that Kushida was likely sick. If you lack recognition from others, do you even want the recognition from people as bad as Ike?

Normally, this would be a psychological issue, but most of the students in Hachiman’s class were like ticking time bombs.

Also…

It’s not as if pointing it out would make the other person change.

So, instead of doing something that won’t succeed, it’s better to make use of her.

So, sadly…

Hachiman chose to help Horikita because he felt a need to protect her—it was a transaction.

But…

For Kushida, it seemed like there was no psychological burden in bullying her a bit.

This was indeed a subtle emotion.

Later…

Kushida sent a message.

“If Ike Kanji comes over, just call me casually. I’ll need an excuse to tell him I already have a boyfriend, so he’ll give up.”

Although she wasn’t happy and hated Ike for not measuring his own worth, Kushida still chose a gentle way to reject him.

Before you confess, I already have a boyfriend.

So, I can reject you without hurting anyone.

Meaning, even though Kushida is rejecting someone, she wouldn’t do it so bluntly.

But…

This trick had already been used by Ichinose, and most of the class members think she’s dating him or even Horikita.

So, will anyone believe this?

However, Kushida only invited him to call her, not directly asking him to confess.

So it wasn’t a big deal.

That evening…

“Confessing is really hard.”

“The risks are too big.”

“Ike almost embarrassed himself.”

Back in their assigned rooms on the ship, Yamauchi said.

Because Ike had invited Kushida to the deck, but before he could confess, Kushida received a call from her boyfriend.

And so, the not-yet-begun romance ended before it could start.

“Well, well…”

“Hachiman, what do you think Kushida’s boyfriend is like?” Yamauchi asked, chirping like a sparrow.

“…”

Hachiman didn’t immediately respond. What was Kushida’s boyfriend like?

As the one responsible for making excuses for Kushida over the phone, Hachiman himself wasn’t even sure what kind of person he was.

However, it was hard to imagine what kind of person could truly date someone like Kushida Kikyo, who had such a dual personality. A person with that strong emotional resilience was hard to picture.

In any case, it seemed like something extraordinary had been done.

On the first night of the trip on the ship, Hachiman unexpectedly dreamed about Kushida Kikyo.

In the dream, she married him and called him to wake up. Then she urged him to go to work.

He probably felt that it was more of a nightmare.

So, Hachiman immediately woke up.

…

In the morning, Hachiman went to the deck.

He yawned and stared blankly at the sunrise over the sea.

Since it was only around six in the morning, it was still early, and there were no students on the deck.

He was enjoying the view of the ocean sunrise by himself.

“Your mood doesn’t seem very good,” a voice suddenly came from behind him.

It was a girl’s voice.

And this girl’s voice wasn’t unfamiliar—it was a familiar one.

Hachiman turned his head slightly and saw the cute girl with a pretty golden ponytail.

Karuizawa Kei.

When he saw Karuizawa, he thought she was quite cute.

Hmm.

As long as she didn’t show her delinquent attitude, she was indeed very cute.

But because she was so cute, it always reminded him of someone even cuter—Sakayanagi Arisu.

At this hour, Sakayanagi was probably still in the school dormitory, he thought.

“Probably had a nightmare,” Hachiman said. “By the way, how did you know I was in a bad mood?”

“You’ve been sighing here for more than ten minutes,” Karuizawa said.

Really?

Since she had noticed him sighing long ago, why didn’t she come over earlier instead of waiting for ten minutes?

Or did she not act unless given an order?

Hachiman deepened his evaluation of Karuizawa’s “M” traits.

“But why are you up so early?” Hachiman asked.

“Ah… yeah, I’m the type who takes a bath in the morning, so after that, I woke up,” Karuizawa replied.

I see.

A morning bath.

Some people do that, Hachiman thought.

Some people even take two baths a day, but with that kind of routine, their skin might not handle it well.

And…

Hachiman was paying attention to Karuizawa.

She must have just taken a bath because she had a fresh, moist look about her. She also smelled nice.

Indeed, girls who have just bathed have the strongest allure.

So, dreaming of marrying Kushida was truly a nightmare, but if he were really getting married, he felt that Karuizawa wouldn’t be bad either.

If she were “M,” she would probably take good care of him.

Of course, though…

These things were all unlikely.

After all, Hachiman’s goal was to become a stay-at-home husband.

And none of the girls—whether it was Horikita, Kushida, or Karuizawa—could support him.

Ah!

Finding a rich woman is tough.

Or should he just make money and become wealthy?

…

Because of the nightmare, Hachiman didn’t feel like trying hard today.

The ship was still sailing.

There was no sign of it stopping yet.

So, there was still some time left.

Considering Karuizawa’s health, Hachiman didn’t disturb her at lunchtime.

However, he was invited by someone.

It was actually the class troublemaker, Yamauchi. He seemed to have invited Sudo and Ike as well.

The purpose was to hold a “breakup consolation party” for Ike.

So, why was this happening?

“People are grouped by their types. If you mix with people who have a bad reputation, yours will also be affected,” Hachiman thought. He didn’t want his reputation to drop.

However, he was also worried about these people causing trouble before they reached Class A.

So, he decided. Get into Class A quickly, and then just slack off.

Hachiman thought to himself.

“Hachiman, don’t look so upset!” A tall, red-haired boy slapped Hachiman on the shoulder.

The boy, Sudo, was followed by Ike, who wasn’t popular with the girls, Yamauchi, a pure otaku, and Sotomura, who had bought a laptop at the start and was skilled with notebooks. They were a total of five people.

“I don’t really think I belong here,” Hachiman said.

He wasn’t really interested in Ike, Yamauchi, or the others.

He definitely didn’t want to participate in their activities.

“You’re the one who helped share the confession topic, right?” Yamauchi said. “So come join us! And if you have a breakup, we’ll throw a celebration for you too.”

Is that so?

But Yamauchi, you seem pretty happy, huh?

Is it because Ike’s confession failed?

And now you’re cursing him to have a failed confession too?

Hachiman thought Yamauchi didn’t know how to behave.

If there were a dropout exam and he could convince Mother Hirata, Yamauchi would probably be the first one to be sacrificed. It would be something everyone would happily witness.

Hachiman thought to himself.

Since everything on the ship was free, they could eat and use things at will.

The group chose a high-end restaurant.

However…

“Can we really come to such an expensive place?” Sudo said.

Yesterday, they had eaten udon in a regular restaurant, but today, Ike found a high-end Western restaurant on the third floor. When they entered, they found many unfamiliar faces—likely students from Class A.

No wonder there were no seats left; it seemed like Class A had booked the whole place!

But Hachiman and his group still managed to find an empty table and sat down.

There were menus on the table—five copies in total.

So each person could have their own.

But this elegant restaurant made the group feel a little pressured.

“What should we order… What kind of dish is this?” Sudo asked, looking at the menu and glancing at Ike.

Ike, feeling the pressure, replied, “Maybe… braised pig head meat? With herb sauce?”

The menu was in English, so Ike had to translate it carefully.

However, it turned out to be braised pork with vermicelli.

“Whatever… Just order something!” Yamauchi said, waving his hand. “Excuse me, is anyone here? We want to order!”

This was a Western restaurant with dedicated waiters, so even without waving their hands, someone would come. Waving, however, would make them seem rude.

And in this restaurant full of Class A students, they were immediately attacked.

Not only did many people look over, but there were also murmurs.

“That’s Sudo, right? I heard he’s killed someone, I don’t know why he hasn’t been expelled!”

“How can a Class C student come here?”

“Didn’t they used to be in Class D? They really have no manners…”

These types of gossip and malicious looks were thrown their way, along with mocking whispers.

This was Class A’s students.

And Hachiman noticed that there weren’t many students from Class A here.

Only about 22 people.

At the same time, Kamuro Masumi, someone Hachiman was familiar with, wasn’t there. Instead, he saw Katsuragi and his lackey, Totsuka Yahiko, who he had met once.

Hachiman had already known that Class A had severe internal divisions.

Sakayanagi had her own faction, the “Sakayanagi faction.”

And now…

Even though Sakayanagi didn’t come to the ship for the exam…

Her classmates were also good at dividing themselves.

Because now, the Class A students here were all from Katsuragi’s faction.

Students from the Sakayanagi faction and the Katsuragi faction don’t even eat together.

When Hachiman entered, he saw the tall and bald-headed Katsuragi sitting on one side. His actions were elegant and calm, his expression serene and composed.

He was a steady person.

“I say… this is not a place for trash like you to come!” Sitting next to Katsuragi was a boy with light green features, somewhat resembling an ape. He suddenly glanced at Hachiman and spoke with a tone of superiority.

This was Totsuka Yahiko.

He didn’t try to hide his contempt.

“Trash should go eat hamburgers!”

He said this.

But he wasn’t fully aware of the situation. Though Class A and Class B were separated by over 200 points, it wasn’t entirely secure.

And since they already knew that this trip was an exam, they needed to be more cautious.

So, was this reckless provocation foolish and unnecessary?

Or was it arranged by Katsuragi… a test?

Katsuragi, who could gain the support of half the students in Class A, was certainly not ordinary.

However.

Hachiman really wanted to take advantage of Katsuragi to gain some points this time.

Because Katsuragi was easier to deal with than Sakayanagi.

That was Hachiman’s first reaction.